Clap-trap

Louis Chunovic

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 2:22 a.m.

If only Eric Clapton had said thank you for a job well done, or if he hadn't taken solo credit for their joint labor of love on national TV, or even if he'd kept his promise about Saturday night's show at the MGM Grand, Richard Conte and his disenchanted colleagues would never have talked to the press.

So says Conte, former chairman and CEO of Transitional Hospital Corp. (THC), a Las Vegas-based health care company. THC was formed in 1992 to provide long- term psychiatric care at hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom. That, Conte says, includes one London facility run by the Priory Hospital Group, a THC subsidiary, where Eric Clapton, himself a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, worked with addicts and alcoholics as a volunteer.

In late 1993, the THC team was contacted by the internationally famous rock guitarist, who wanted to build an alcohol- and drug-rehab center on the Caribbean island of Antigua, his adopted second home, Conte says.

And that's where good intentions eventually turned into bad blood.

Making plans

"Eric was keenly interested in doing something to help the people of the Caribbean with their drug and alcohol problems, but not being a businessman, and not being an expert in hospital operations, he largely deferred to us," Conte says. According to him, the THC team conceived the business plan for the facility, acquired its prime beach-front site, arranged for Antiguan tax breaks and government cooperation that made it financially feasible and oversaw its design and construction. THC also found and hired its first executive director, former Betty Ford Center administrator Anne Vance.

THC's former vice president for development, Lester Keizer, who was instrumental in acquiring the site, even came up with a name for the drug- rehab center, Conte says. He suggested calling it Crossroads, after a famous song from Clapton's days with the '60s rock group Cream.

At one time, Conte says, THC and Clapton were partners in the facility, with THC owning two-thirds of the joint venture and Clapton one-third. During this period, Conte says, he and his team of about a dozen persons kept in close touch with Clapton, who called on them often (and, keeping rock-star hours, sometimes very late at night), with questions and concerns. During those years of planning and construction, Conte says he was repeatedly invited to join Clapton backstage during his concerts in various cities.

"I have met with Eric more times than you can imagine," Conte says. "I have talked to him on the phone more times than I ever expected, and actually had the great privilege of staying at his home several times."

Though there are no outstanding financial issues between the former THC employees and Clapton, Conte does say that he made at least one trip to Antigua at his own expense, and Keizer adds that he and others at the company worked many weekend hours for free, treating their extra efforts as charitable contributions to Clapton's dream.

Keizer says he also flew into Antigua several times for meetings at Clapton's house, and that he or Conte met with Clapton in such other cities as London, Paris and Los Angeles. Keizer also says he acquired the beach-front acreage from the Antiguan government at a bargain price -- 10 acres on the beach for $100,000, with an option for another 10 at the same price -- approximately one-tenth of the going rate.

Though Clapton has characterized himself as a hands-on participant in the construction of the drug-rehab project, Keizer says that Clapton, who lived approximately five miles away, didn't visit the Crossroads site at all the first year.

Because Clapton doesn't read architectural blueprints, Conte says, another THC vice president, George Bruton, who subsequently oversaw Crossroads' physical design, created a three-dimensional model of the facility-to-come and flew to London to show it to Clapton. The roofs of the model were removable, Bruton says, so Clapton could see the arrangement of the beds inside.

On one of the model beds, Bruton says, he placed a tiny doll -- a bearded man wearing glasses and holding a guitar.

And according to Conte, Clapton promised that as a reward for work well done, when he played Vegas, the entire THC team would be invited to come to the concert and spend a few moments backstage. But, apparently, it won't turn out that way.

Things turn sour

In a hostile takeover in mid-1997, THC was bought by Vencor, Inc., another health care company, which subsequently sold THC's two-thirds interest in Crossroads to Clapton, making him sole owner of the Antiguan facility, which is scheduled to open later this year.

Suddenly, Conte's calls, which had for years been returned by Clapton himself, went unanswered.

In February, the notoriously press-shy Clapton talked openly to CNN's Larry King about his years of drug and alcohol abuse. Clapton explained to King that he'd been coming to Antigua, his "second home," for 15 years, and that "for the last three years I have been trying to start a treatment center there." Until then, the Crossroads project had been top secret, according to Conte, who says that Clapton had once planned to keep his involvement in the Antigua center a secret permanently.

"I am primarily doing it for (Antiguan) people who have no money, that need treatment," Clapton told King, adding that "we need to do a Robin Hood type thing with this so that we can bring people with money from Europe and America to pay and subsidize a third of the beds which would be for local people who have none."

In a subsequent press statement, Crossroads executive director Vance said that the facility would have 36 beds, that Clapton had put "some million dollars" of his own money into the project, that the paying European and American clients would be charged a "little less than $9,000" for one month and that Caribbean indigents would not be charged at all for treatment.

She also stated that she had met Clapton while working for a European foundation and that he "mentioned that he was interested in building a facility. ... I liked what he said and I think he liked what I said. That was 2 1 /2 years ago, and we have worked together on this ever since."

Actually, Conte says, THC recruited and interviewed Vance several times. Only then did she meet Clapton, and her original employment agreement was with THC, not Clapton. Furthermore, Conte adds, the total cost of the facility, initially shared by Clapton and THC, was approximately $5.5 million.

In March, a Los Angeles Times newspaper article headlined "Clapton's New Riff: Rehab 'Robin Hood' of Antigua," profiled the Crossroads Center and quoted an Antiguan anti-drug activist, who disparaged THC, though he acknowledged it as the Las Vegas-based company initially "commissioned" to plan and build the center.

In the Times piece, the activist was described as "grimacing" while he talked about THC's "vision" for a drug treatment "luxury resort": "It was too big. It was not the sort of thing Eric had in mind, and it was not the sort of thing Antigua had in mind. ... So Eric took over the project personally and has been managing it himself ever since," the activist was quoted as saying.

"Absolutely not," Conte counters, saying that the original "Robin Hood" elements of the project, including setting aside one-third of the beds for the local people who could not afford to pay, were first conceived by Keizer and proposed to Clapton by THC.

Lack of recognition

"The story that I'm telling is essentially about lack of recognition for a bunch of Las Vegas residents, who went out of their way, who devoted their hearts and souls to developing a hospital in Antigua ... for rock super-star Eric Clapton," Conte says. "What upsets me is the fact that so many of my co-workers, so many of my people ... made Eric's dream come true, and once the work was done, once the hospital was about to open, all these people who've made it possible now have just been ignored."

Over the past few months, after he learned that Clapton was coming to play Vegas, Conte left messages on Clapton's home answering machine "four or five" times, he says. "I've spoken to his secretary on a couple of occasions, I've sent him several faxes ... in hopes of getting a hold of him so I could get him to make good on his promises to invite all of my people" to his Vegas show.

They continue to support the Antiguan facility, Conte, Keizer and Bruton declare, each expressing the hope that Crossroads will succeed. "It's a damn shame that one of the most famous stars in the world has not seen fit to say thank you or to reward in some small way people who are, through their actions, allowing him to grandstand in the newspaper ... as the Robin Hood of the Caribbean," Conte says. "From what I remember of Errol Flynn movies, (Robin Hood) treated the Merry Men pretty well."

Repeated calls to Clapton's L.A. publicists requesting an interview and comments for this story have gone unanswered. Anne Vance, executive director of the Crossroads Center in Antigua, declined a request for an interview.

According to Amusement Business magazine, three of the current top 10 North American single-concert grosses are for Eric Clapton shows (in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and Chapel Hill, N.C.), and legions of Clapton-is-god fans continue to pack venues around the country.

Saturday's MGM Grand concert -- with a top ticket price of $150 -- is sold out.

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